Rain and Roses
by Fifth Horseman
Summary: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. It makes it ache, makes it yearn, makes it worry, makes it doubt. It makes you realize things you hadn't before. For Weiss, reassurance comes in the form of a girl in a red hood.


**Disclaimer:** RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. I own nothing of it and am only playing in this wonderful world Monty gave us.

Been told that my original author note was whiny. Now it's gone. Everyone happy?

With that out of the way, I do hope that you enjoy this story and I would be grateful if you would take the time to review. Hard to know if you've gotten things right if no one responds.

 **Rain and Roses**

The leaden skies and the pouring rain were a perfect reflection of the mood Weiss Schnee found herself in. Grey, gloomy, sullen, and not at all upbeat. Rather dismal really and she had been feeling that way with increasing intensity ever since her father had drug her home from Vale, a place where she still felt that she should be. It was where she wanted to be but what she wanted was of no concern to him it seemed. So long as he got his way he didn't care what she thought of it. Her opinions on the matter were unwanted and as far as he was concerned the matter wasn't open for debate, every attempt to do so being cut off before she could even start.

So instead here she stood in a white business suit, under a large overhang outside the Trade Administration building in Mistral's capital as part of a delegation from Atlas, watching the rain pour down while the other members of the delegation continued to trade false platitudes with their hosts and other business people from Atlas and Mistral. Even her sister Winter was here on behalf of General Ironwood to help explain about what happened at the Vytal Festival and assure both the Mistral government and the trade associations that Atlas had not actually attacked Vale. Unfortunately she hadn't had an opportunity to visit with her and it was unlikely that she would get a chance to do so before this trip was over.

She was here on her father's orders with the Schnee Dust Company contingent to learn how these events worked. It was part of her education on running the company and something she was hating with a vengeance. Most of the delegation treated her like they thought she was spying for her father, while her mentor on this trip was an arrogant, miserable hag who could barely contain her contempt for the task she had been given and she delighted in making things just as miserable for her. After the daily meetings she just wanted to go back to her hotel room, have a long hot bath to relax, then order some room service and just be left alone for a while. Instead the hag would debrief and interrogate her on what she had learned that day before dragging her off to an official dinner put on by the government, one of the trade associations, or participating companies. The last three days had been hell and she had pretty much reached her limit.

She shifted the slim briefcase that held her notebooks and scroll from her left hand to her right and began rotating her shoulder and flexing her hand. It was just one of the many aches and pains she had from what could loosely be called training. Her father had decided to play games with her. He didn't want her to continue to pursue the path of a Huntress but he also knew that he couldn't get away with just forbidding her to do so. So, he had hired trainers for her to give the illusion that he was trying to help her continue down that road but she knew that they were only there to try and beat the notion out of her. Their job was to make things so difficult for her that she would give up and learn the business as he wanted her to without protest. To her mind, shouldn't a father want to see his daughter follow her own aspirations and make her own path in life? Apparently he didn't agree with that line of thinking.

The training consisted mostly of vicious sparring sessions, often two against one and just so long as she didn't end up seriously hurt her father didn't seem to care if she got rouged up on a daily basis. As far as he was concerned her short term pain was acceptable for his long term gain and the trainers he hired seemed to be more than happy to do their part to further his plans for her. What they and her father hadn't counted on was her resolve. No matter how many times they battered her around she kept getting back up and coming back for more. They weren't weakening that resolve, if anything they were strengthening it. It seemed to piss them off actually which she took great delight in and they had switched tactics a bit in order to try and change that.

Once they had her Aura worn down they would start aiming for one particular body part and lately that had been her left arm. She had lost count of the number of hits she had taken specifically across her left shoulder, elbow, and wrist. By the time she got to her shower after training to clean up the arm was either throbbing in pain or numb and in either case almost useless until her Aura began to recover and start healing the damage. They were banking on her not recovering fully each night and making the damage cumulative. It forced her to try and protect her left side more during the spars which tended to leave her open elsewhere. It had forced her to become more resourceful as well as in trying to manipulate her Aura to help the healing afterwards. She would sit in a meditative pose and try to direct her Aura to the areas of her arm that hurt the worst and which would affect her ability to use that arm the most.

They hadn't quite caught on to what she had been doing yet, but the drawback to her was that while it kept her arm functioning, even if it wasn't at one hundred percent, it meant that the rest of her body didn't recover quite as much. She would wake up sore and tired but once she got warmed up and into the day's training she was well able to cope with it and push her way through it. So far at least it was working.

As much as she hated this business trip, it did serve to get her away from the training for a few days and allow her to recover and rest. Her shoulder was still a bit achy, but most of the bruising was all but gone. She was determined that she was not going to let them break her, determined that her father was not going to get his way. She was going to be a Huntress. The attack on Vale and her father's attempts to keep her from it made her want it that much more and no matter how much they pressed her and no matter how much it hurt she was not going to give in. She could be just as stubborn as they were because she had a goal to attain and it wasn't just the goal of becoming a Huntress.

She wanted to go back to where she belonged. It wasn't here and she wasn't entirely sure it was Atlas anymore, at least not now. Where she wanted to be was where she should _still_ be. She should be in Vale, she should be with her team, and she should be with her partner. That was where she felt she really belonged and it hurt so much, more than she ever thought it would to not be there. It hurt not to be next to her partner and, yes, her friend. Most of all it hurt because she didn't even know if Ruby was alright, didn't know if she was even still alive.

She had seen that silver/white light spilling from the tower at Beacon and had seen the dragon Grimm suddenly freeze there on the ledge like a statue. She didn't know what happened or why, all she knew was that her heart nearly stopped when she saw Ruby's Uncle Qrow carrying her in his arms as he came out of the tower. She had looked paler than usual and wasn't moving and it took him three tries to snap her out of it and tell her that Ruby was just unconscious. That was all she ever heard however since her father had whisked her out of the hospital waiting room many hours later and took her home. By then Ruby still hadn't woken up and she didn't even know what had happened to her to put her in that state. With the CCTS still down there was no way for her to find out how she or any of her other friends were doing.

The time and distance had made her realize just how fond she had actually become of the younger girl even if she had never said or done anything to really show it. Truthfully, she had formed a strong attachment to her that she hadn't really realized existed until they were no longer together. The thought that Ruby could be anything other than alive and well, flitting about madly and getting into mischief, made her chest hurt and gave her nightmares. Ruby was her first real and true friend and she missed the daily interaction between them. She hadn't treated her very well at the start and that was something she wasn't entirely sure she had fully atoned for but Ruby didn't seem to hold it against her. She tried to get her to take things more seriously and be studious, while Ruby tried to get her to lighten up and have some fun. They were somewhat of an odd couple but it worked both as friends and as partners.

"I really do miss you, you little dolt," she said with soft fondness. "You had better be all right."

She missed her enough that whenever she would catch a flash of something red out of the corner of her eye she would automatically turn and expect to see Ruby standing there waiting for her, face split with that unrepentant grin of hers. But she never was and she was always hit hard by how down that would make her feel. She felt so utterly alone now, had ever since she arrived back in Atlas and it was even worse than it had been before she ever went to Beacon and met Ruby and the rest of their friends. Against her will she had been pulled back into the cold embrace of her home and had once again been shackled to the pillar that was the expectations of her father and the Schnee name. There was no warmth or camaraderie there, just isolation and the expectation of blind obedience. The suffocating loneliness itself just might break her long before her trainers and her father could.

With a sigh she moved farther away from the chattering group of executives. She'd been listening to them all talk for three days and standing there listening to them now was threatening to give her a migraine. Not even the sound of the rain was relaxing her at all and did nothing to help relieve her anxiety and frustration. She wanted to be away from here so badly. She just couldn't stand any of this and she had to get out of here and go back. She wanted to know if her team and her friends were okay, it was killing her not to. She wanted to know how Ruby was handling everything. She had seen her friend Penny torn apart and from what she had overheard she could only assume that she had seen Pyrrha die as well. The sister she thought the world of had been badly hurt as had Blake, and she had been whisked away without the ability to even say anything to her. She knew Ruby and knew that none of this would sit lightly upon her.

None of it was sitting lightly upon her either and she really hadn't been given the time to process and deal with any of it. She hadn't really gotten to know Penny, but the revelation of what she was had been more than enough of a shock on its own. She had known Pyrrha however and had enjoyed her interactions with her and considered her to be a friend. It had been a hard blow to find out that someone they all thought of as being unbeatable was gone. When she had left Vale, she and Jaune had been the only two members of either team to not be lying in a hospital bed and Jaune was a mess with the loss of his partner. She hadn't been in a great state of mind either with the uncertainty about her own partner's fate and quite frankly she still wasn't. But since arriving home she had been kept so busy that she hadn't had much of a chance to sit and think about everything and deal with it.

She felt like crying, like joining the rain as it drenched the city around her but that would be considered behaviour unbecoming of a Schnee. It didn't matter how much she needed it or how much she felt like she was about to come apart at the seams from holding it in. Only the name and what it represented were what was important. _Any_ sign of weakness was unacceptable for someone of her name and stature. That had been drilled into her all of her life. Her own family name even denied her the right to her true feelings which had been threatening to burst forth from her ever since she got back.

She closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to settle herself. She really wished she could get an opportunity to talk to her sister. While she might not have any more news or knowledge about what was going on in Vale than she did, at least it would be someone who would actually listen to her and let her talk and maybe rid herself of some of this angst and uncertainty. As she reopened her eyes the rain began to come down harder as if it was in synch with what she was feeling, and thunder began to rumble across the ever darkening sky. It was fitting for the weather to worsen as her mood did, it made her feel a little less alone somehow. Misery does love company after all.

She looked out at the wide boulevard in front of the building, watching the sparse mid afternoon traffic make its way along slowly through the deluge. Glancing off to her left she caught a sudden glimpse of something red and like usual her attention was drawn to it immediately, the usual feeling of disappointment already gnawing at her before she could even identify what she saw. It stopped dead however when the familiarity of movement and colour fully registered and her eyes went wide. A person clutching a small shopping bag to their chest was hurrying across the wide street to a narrower one half a block away. A person in a predominantly black dress, wearing a hooded red cloak and with a blocky red object sitting across their lower back. She recognized the person's physical movements immediately, a whole semester spent living and training with them had ingrained them into her memory.

Ruby Rose was alive and well and in Mistral.

Her eyes went wide and her heart began beating faster. She didn't spend a single moment wondering why she was here, instead feeling a burst nervous energy at the knowledge that she was. With a rush of hope and elation flooding through her she dropped her briefcase and took off through the downpour after her. With little traffic she had no trouble dodging cars but was already soaked to the skin by the time she got to the side street. She arrived just in time to see her partner disappear down another side street to the left up ahead of her, avoiding a road construction crew further along up the block.

"Ruby!" she called out as she took after her again. She didn't know if she could hear her over the sound of the rain or not, but she could hear people starting to yell her name from back at the trade building. She did not want to go back there, at the very least not before she had a chance to talk to Ruby. She ran as fast as she could and turned the corner only to see Ruby now a block and a half ahead of her and crossing the street to an alley in the middle of the block. Apparently she was plenty fast even without using her Semblance.

"Ruby!" she called out again as she tapped into her arsenal of glyphs to propel her down the street. She must have heard her because she stopped and turned. She could see her eyes go wide as she got closer. She was so glad that she had caught up that she nearly stumbled into her as she came to a stop. Not terribly graceful but at the moment she didn't care.

"Weiss!" Ruby called out in obvious joy, silver eyes lighting up and a huge smile coming to her lips.

Weiss Schnee then did something very un-Schnee like. She lunged at the girl and wrapped her arms around her in a crushing hug. "Ruby! You're alright!"

 _'Not for long,'_ she thought. "Weiss...can't breath." You would think she'd be used to death grip hugs by now with Yang as her sister.

Weiss released her in a hurry, suddenly realizing what she was doing. "Ruby, what are you doing in Mistral?"

"I could ask you the same," Ruby countered.

Before she could answer she could hear the still shouting voices nearing the corner. She took a step into the alley to better conceal herself and she dragged Ruby with her.

"Is somebody after you?" Ruby asked, her demeanour changing to that of someone going into 'protect' mode.

"It's the people I came here with," she answered with a sigh. "I _really_ don't want to go back with them right now."

Ruby smirked as she wrapped an arm around her partner's waist. "Leave it to me."

"What are you...aaahh!"

In a burst of rose petals they shot down the alley. Stopping at the side streets long enough to make sure they weren't going to run into a car, Ruby sped them along until the alley ended three blocks later, then went another block to her left and started down another street in the direction they had been originally going. Weiss finally got her to stop. She was getting a bit of the rag doll treatment and Ruby was out of breath. If she hadn't stopped them they likely would have ended up in a heap in the middle of the street.

"You dolt!" she exclaimed, stomping her foot. Right into a puddle of course. "Are you trying to burn yourself out and send us tumbling down the street?"

"Sorry," Ruby apologized sheepishly, rubbing the back of her now uncovered head. Her hood had come off as she was running. "Guess I got a little carried away. But the place I'm staying is only a couple of more blocks."

"I doubt they'll catch up to us now," Weiss said. "And I don't think we will get any less wet if we just walk now."

"Heh...yeah, we already look like drowned rats," Ruby chuckled as she led the way.

"I just hope where you're staying has warm water and dry towels," Weiss commented, shivering. It felt like it was getting cooler and a warm bath would be a good way to get warmed back up.

"Well, about that..."

* * *

The place where Ruby was staying was an old, two level motel and there were obvious signs that parts of the place were undergoing some major renovation work. There was no water available until the work crew was done for the day and even then there might only be enough hot water to fill the tub one time and it was expected to be that way for another day or two. Once they got into the room, upper floor on the end by the street, the towel situation proved to be not a lot better. One large bath towel and one small hand towel.

"Why are you staying here again?" Weiss asked as they began to hurriedly get out of their rain saturated clothes in the bathroom.

"Because it was cheap and it wasn't a dump," Ruby answered. "I got a discount since they were fixing up the place."

Weiss had to admit that the room really wasn't bad. Small and plain compared to her hotel room, but it was in good shape and it was clean. There was a bed with a nightstand and lamp next to it, a dresser, a couple of chairs and a modest television set as well as a small fridge and a microwave sitting on shelf above it. Best of all right now it was dry and away from the entourage she had travelled here with. Better yet, she was reunited with her partner and she was so relieved that the younger girl seemed to be okay, at least physically. It was still a bit jarring to her really, how she used to care so little about others and how she cared so much now about Ruby and the other friends she had made while at Beacon.

She looked over at her and allowed herself a small smile. It felt good to be beside her again, it felt right and it confirmed her thoughts that beside Ruby was exactly where she should be and where she should have been all along. She found herself just staring at her, like she wanted to assure herself that Ruby really was there and okay and that she wasn't imagining this. It hadn't really occurred to her before but while she wasn't very big and was only fifteen, Ruby did look stronger than one would think, she supposed one would have to be when wielding a weapon like Crescent Rose. Overall she looked to be in really good shape despite her penchant for devouring sweets. Considering the way she trained she would have to be and she looked like she was indeed healthy and thankfully uninjured.

She frowned as she noticed something else that was sadly familiar. Really, it wasn't fair. Ruby was two years younger and while not nearly as well endowed in the chest as her sister Yang, she was still bigger than she was. Hopefully she was just a late bloomer and Winter hadn't hogged all of the genetics in the family...

Wait. Why in the hell was she zoning out and thinking about something like that? She never worried about that kind of stuff. Well okay, not _never,_ it did cross her mind every now and then but it wasn't like she worried about it or was hung up on it. And it wasn't like she had never seen Ruby unclothed before, they did share a dorm room for a semester as well as a common bathroom and locker room and she had never felt any need to physically appraise her fellow team mate like she was doing now. As a matter of fact she'd gone out of her way to _not_ be looking at her or anyone else. She felt it was rude and she didn't like it when people had eyeballed her...and teased her about her bust size...though she should have expected that from Yang, so she tried not to do it to anyone else.

Well, she had been pretty messed up emotionally lately and she really was happier than she could put into words to see Ruby again and know that she was indeed okay. But there was definitely something else, some other feeling going through her right now and she didn't really know what it was. More so, she didn't know _why_ she was feeling it in the first place and that bothered her. Yes, she had missed her, _really_ missed her, but this was a whole other kind of feeling altogether. She didn't know what it was and it kind of scared her.

She quickly diverted her attention back to getting out of her own wet clothes and hanging them up over the tub so they could dry, but her traitorous eyes and mind kept wanting to go back to her partner. Ruby's back was to her now and she saw something she had never seen before. Halfway down the left side of her back was a razor thin scar several inches long that ran upwards on a roughly forty five degree angle until it met and stopped at her spine. Thin as it was it was still noticeable.

"Ruby...did you get this in the attack?"

"Huh?" Ruby asked, looking over her shoulder to see that she was talking about. "Oh that. Nah, I've had that for a while."

Realizing what she had done Weiss's face turned red in embarrassment. "I am so sorry, that was insensitive of me to ask about it." _'Especially when you've been respectful enough not to ask about mine.'_

"That's okay," Ruby chirped, not bothered by it in the least. "I don't mind. I got that when I was learning to use a scythe. I was supposed to only practice with a wooden one but it was when I was building Crescent Rose and I wanted to try it out." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "It...didn't go so well. Kind of funny though, the first blood my sweetheart ever drew was my own. Uncle Qrow got pretty mad at me about it. Well, so did Dad and Yang. That's when I learned to have respect for my weapon because it could hurt me just as easily as it could hurt someone else. My Uncle said it was a lesson he knew I would have to learn for myself the hard way and was glad I didn't get hurt a lot worse."

Her hand went to the scar over her left eye. While she didn't try to hide it, she also had never cared to speak of it, but since Ruby had freely told her about her own scar she felt she should tell her about it. Especially since she'd been rude enough to ask.

"I got this while training too. I avoided a strike from my opponent, but didn't anticipate the counterattack. I was fortunate not to lose my eye." It wasn't the whole story, but it was close enough. Truth was, she had been lucky not lose her whole head.

"I always wondered but didn't want to upset you by asking," Ruby admitted, fidgeting a little.

"And I appreciate that," she said. "It's not something I take any pride in having earned. It's just there and I have to live with it."

Suddenly Ruby looked concerned. "Weiss, what happened to your shoulder? It's all bruised."

"My father hired trainers for me," she said, bitterness evident in her voice. "Their real job is not to help me get better but to make me want to quit trying to be a Huntress at all. He wants me to learn how to run the business instead. That's why I was here, I was at a trade conference with others from the company."

"The one's you didn't want catching up to you earlier?" Ruby smirked.

"Exactly," she said. "I would rather sit through three days of Professor Port's stories than spend three more _minutes_ with those people."

Ruby snickered. "I thought you liked his stories?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Just because I pay attention to them doesn't mean I like them." Ruby handed her the large bath towel and took the smaller hand towel for herself. "It's your room, why don't you take the big one?" she offered.

"You've got more hair to dry than I do," Ruby answered. "The small one will be fine for me." She began to vigorously ruffle her hair with the towel.

Again Weiss found herself unavoidably watching her partner as her actions made certain parts of her anatomy jiggle and shake. She gave her head a hard shake and started on her own hair. _'Honestly, what the hell has gotten into me?'_

It had been one thing when she had uncharacteristically hugged the girl upon catching up to her, she had been so happy to see her again that she had done something she would never have done otherwise. But this was the second time she had found herself eyeing her partner and she didn't know why. Sure, there was a part of her that actually wanted to wrap her arms around her again and not let her go, she really had felt that alone and had missed her friend so much. It was almost as if her personality was trying to swing a one hundred and eighty degree turn now that Ruby was here, going from aloof to being all touchy feely. She suddenly wasn't so sure of her emotional stability now that one of her biggest worries had been absolved. She knew she had been forced to hold a lot in but she needed to get a handle on herself before she made a fool of herself.

"So what do we do now?" she asked, shivering. "There aren't enough towels to wrap ourselves in and I am not going to sit around stark naked."

Ruby thought for a minute then smiled. "The bed! We can wrap ourselves in the sheets and stay warm until our clothes dry out." She was off like a shot, yanking the sheet and blanket out from where it was tucked in at the end of the bed and dragging them up to the other end.

 _'Typical Ruby',_ she thought. She took the time to properly hang the towels back up before exiting the bathroom, partly to be polite and not be a slob, and partly to avoid looking at Ruby's naked body as she scurried around. The disturbing way her head seemed to be working today didn't need anymore stimulus to feed its weirdness.

Ruby was already half wrapped up in the bedding and sitting with her back to the wall, waiting for her and holding the sheets aside and giving her space to sit to her left. She suddenly felt very self conscious about her own nakedness as she crossed the room. Was it the idea of getting into the bed naked with another girl? Was there something in the way Ruby was watching her or was her already on the fritz mind imagining it?

A loud grumble of thunder seemed to snap her out of it as she finally got into the bed and wrapped the offered half of the sheet and blanket around herself. By the time they got done shifting and squirming and getting themselves arranged, they were bundled up from the neck down and sitting shoulder to shoulder with their backs to the wall. She almost protested the skin to skin contact as they were pressed together pretty much from shoulder to hip and as it was her nerves got the better of her and she flinched.

"You okay Weiss?" Ruby asked, a concerned look on her face.

"I'm fine," she answered. "I just have a case of the shivers." It wasn't a lie, she was shivering and hopefully Ruby would believe her reaction was just a part of that.

"Yeah, me too," Ruby said. "I think the temperature has dropped at least ten degrees in as many minutes. It's really getting nasty out there."

Indeed it was. It was still pouring hard, flashes of lightning strobed through the windows every few seconds and the thunder seemed to be getting louder and rumbled almost constantly as the storm progressed. For several minutes that was the only sound in the room.

"So what are you doing in Mistral anyway? Weiss finally asked.

"We came here to see if we could find out anything about Cinder and her flunkies." There was an angry edge to Ruby's voice when she said that name. "They supposedly came from Mistral and that's the only real lead we have to go on."

"We?" Weiss questioned.

"I came here with Jaune, Nora and Ren," Ruby answered softly.

"Are they staying at this motel as well?" There was a slight pang in her chest at the thought of Ruby being here with another team.

Ruby shook her head. "Ren and Nora took a job at a nearby village for a couple of days with a Huntsman to make some travelling money for us and Jaune...he went to see Pyrrha's family. We're supposed to meet up tomorrow at Haven Academy to talk to the Headmaster. I stayed here to be nearby in case Haven needed to contact us."

"Are they...alright?" she asked.

Ruby shrugged. "They seem to be okay but I can tell they're still really hurt. They try not to show it too much." They lapsed into silence for a few moments.

"So...your Dad really wants you to stop being a Huntress that bad?" Ruby asked, changing the subject.

Weiss sighed. "He uses the attack on Beacon as justification that it's too dangerous, that I would have been safer at home in Atlas. The White Fang's involvement is how he rationalizes it, as if they were involved just so that they could come after a Schnee. He plays this game where he makes it look like he's trying to help me continue training. His real motivation is his anger that I went to Beacon in the first place and got out from under his thumb for a while and he's determined to make sure that it doesn't happen again."

"I guess I really don't understand that," Ruby admitted. "My Dad was so proud that Yang and I got into Beacon. He worries a lot about us but he never tried to keep us from going or anything."

"My father tries to control everything and everyone around him and that includes his family," she explained. "He already had one daughter succeed at defying him and doing what she wanted to, he doesn't want it to happen again." She turned and looked at Ruby. "Remember when my payment card wouldn't work when I tried to pay for our lunch at the Vytal Festival? It was because he cut me off since I wasn't returning any of his messages or calls. I went to Beacon because it was the best place to learn to become a Huntress and I wanted to find out if I was the same person my father kept under his thumb or if I was someone else. With those calls and messages he would still have me under his thumb, it would be like I had never left home."

"I'm sorry Weiss," Ruby offered sincerely and sounding a little sad. "I never knew it was like that for you. I mean, I have a great relationship with my Dad and I guess I kind of assumed everyone else did with theirs too."

Weiss looked away, unable to met Ruby's eyes. "It's fine. If anything, I should be apologizing to you."

"Huh?" Ruby cocked her head sideways in her usual expression of puzzlement. "Why would you need to do that?"

"Because I'm your partner and your friend and I left," she answered, ashamed and angry with herself. "I wanted to stay in Vale and I wanted to be there for you. You were unconscious and I didn't know what was wrong or when you would wake up. But when my father arrived, like an obedient daughter I did what he wanted and I left. I didn't even put up a fight. I should have been there." There was a quaver in her voice now. "I wanted to be there for you and Yang and Blake and all of our friends but I didn't stand up to him and I let him drag me back to Atlas. I should have said no and made it so that the only way he would get me to go with him was for his bodyguards to drag me kicking and screaming onto the plane."

"You would have just gotten in a lot of trouble with him if you did something like that," Ruby offered.

"I don't care," she huffed. "And I shouldn't have cared then. I should have been there and if I was I wouldn't have been worrying myself sick if you were okay or not. I've been kept so busy that I haven't even had time enough to myself to be able to think about what happened or what...and who we lost. I don't even know what happened to you in the first place. All I know is that just after you got to the top of the tower I saw that weird silver light that froze that dragon. I didn't see you again until your Uncle carried you out." Her voice lowered to a near whisper. "Ruby...I was really afraid that you were dead."

"I..." Ruby seemed to be slowly deflating in on herself. "I really haven't a had a lot of time to think about things either. I've been afraid that if I did that I'd fall apart and Jaune and Nora and Ren were having a hard enough time as it was and I didn't want to make it worse for them. I kind of became their leader and I wanted to be strong for them like a leader should."

"Ruby..." she began. The girl could be an infuriating, immature dork, but she could also be the strongest among them. But if she was being strong for everyone else, who was being strong for her? Who was giving her a shoulder to lean on and holding her up when she needed it?

Ruby sniffled. "I...I saw her die Weiss! I wasn't fast enough...I didn't get there soon enough to help Pyrrha."

She shifted and turned to better face her partner and the sight was heartbreaking. Ruby was looking down at the bed, tears streaming from her eyes and clutching the sheet and blanket under her chin in a white knuckled grip.

"W-when I got there," she continued. "She was on her knees and...t-there was an arrow in her chest." She choked back a sob. "Cinder was standing over her...there was a f-flash behind Pyrrha and then her body just fell...fell apart like it was a bunch of glowing embers or s-something. T-there was nothing left."

Weiss found tears falling from her own eyes now. What a horrible thing for her to have to see and it sounded like she was blaming herself, feeling the guilt of surviving when a friend and comrade in arms did not.

"I started screaming," Ruby cried. "And my eyes started burning and everything went white. I-I couldn't see anything anymore and I must have passed out. I didn't wake up until a few days later."

She was stunned. "Ruby... _you_ were the cause of that light? How?"

The girl slowly nodded. "I don't know. U-Uncle Qrow said something about an old legend that Professor Ozpin told him about. S-something about people born with silver eyes being destined to become warriors and that the Grimm were afraid of them. My Mom...she had silver eyes too."

Weiss had never heard of that legend and she had never met anyone else with silver eyes, it was definitely not a common eye colour. If it was true, and she certainly had no reason to doubt Ruby and she had seen the effect herself, then how many of the other legends of Remnant were true? If tangible abilities like Aura and Semblance indeed existed, and now the ability that Ruby had used, then it was certainly possible for other abilities to exist as well.

"Why did she have to kill her?! Ruby cried, her voice rife with pain and a fresh wave of tears streaming from her eyes. "If she was already beaten she didn't have to do that. If I had got there sooner...I couldn't help her. I couldn't help anybody."

Weiss really didn't know what to do or say. "Ruby..."

"I tried to help Penny but I couldn't," she blurted out. "I saw Emerald in the arena b-but her team was supposed to be back in Mistral. She made Pyrrha see something that made her attack the way she did. The same thing that happened to Yang happened to Coco...V-Velvet told me."

"Wait," she cut in. "What do you mean? What did Coco see?"

"S-she saw Yatsuhashi walking toward her but he'd already lost and couldn't have been there," Ruby sniffled. "That's when Emerald attacked her and won the match."

"An illusion ability?" she wondered. "It has to be. We saw that match and Yatsuhashi wasn't anywhere near Coco at the end."

"I tried to get help or warn somebody but Mercury stopped me," Ruby continued. "I had to fight him without Crescent Rose and by the time I got away from him it was too late. Penny may have been a machine but she had a real soul Weiss...I could feel it. But now she's gone, a-and Pyrrha's gone. Blake was hurt and she ran away again and Yang..." It took a moment for her to be able to speak again and when she did the pain in her voice had doubled. "Yang's so mad at her for leaving...a-and she doesn't want anyone to come near her. She wants to be alone and just sleeps or stares out the window. I told her I loved her and she didn't say anything. She's always been there for me but I left her behind. She always protected me and helped me, but I couldn't help her...I couldn't help anyone..."

Tears streaming down her own face now, she grabbed Ruby and held her close. She wasn't good at this sort of thing but it was clear that she needed to do something and this was all she could think of. As much of an emotional wreck as she had been since being forced back home, Ruby was much worse and she didn't know how the girl had held herself together this long with what had happened and the burden of blame she had put upon herself. Ruby cherished her friends and to lose Penny and Pyrrha, and see Blake and her big sister wounded, that was a heavy dose of the bad side of the heroic life of a Huntress. She also took her role as a leader seriously and to see those she led and cared about be hurt, to see her team broken and scattered, and to hold her own hurt and self blame over it inside of herself for this long, it was a wonder she hadn't broken before this.

As she held her partner she also let her own emotional stress flow out of her with her own tears. The tears she had needed to shed so badly ever since being forced back home but couldn't let go of. She could finally grieve herself for their friend Pyrrha. She could let the tears wash away the shock and the horror of seeing Blake and Yang collapse in front of her, one with a hole in her gut the other missing an arm. She could let them carry away the fear and anxiety of not knowing where Ruby was during the attack and how she was doing in the time that they had been separated in the aftermath. She could drain herself of the shame, frustration, and guilt of blindly obeying her father, abandoning her team and her friends, and once again letting him control her life, crush her spirit and return her to the horrible loneliness she had always known.

Fittingly, the thunder, lightning, and pounding rain continued to crash around them as they weathered their own personal storms. At some point Ruby had wrapped her arms around her as well and they clung to each other in desperation, like they were the only things they had to hold onto to keep their own storms from blowing them away. In the midst of these raw emotions Weiss discovered something, or rediscovered it if you will. Here with Ruby, she didn't feel the crushing loneliness that she had felt since coming home. That same loneliness that had burdened her life like a disease before she left for Beacon in the first place and eventually, slowly, found respite from as she lived and fought beside Ruby and their friends.

That feeling had been heavy, dark and oppressive, weighing her down for her entire life and threatening to crush her under its weight and consume her whole. It was only made worse by the constant expectations placed upon her, expectations that had little to do with what she wanted and everything to do with what her father wanted. She had all of the comforts and material possessions a person could want but she had no freedom to do or be anything other than what _he_ wanted her to be.

But after she finally let herself be Ruby's friend, she had realized that those oppressive feelings were, if not gone, they at least were no longer in the forefront. She had been beginning to feel like she belonged, like she had been becoming a part of the madness they sometimes partook in rather than being reluctantly dragged along by it and was beginning to relax a little and feel less pressured. She didn't feel her father's disapproving glare over her shoulder, snuffing out every little spark of hope or self confidence that she ever showed.

Ruby made her feel better about herself and what she wanted to accomplish, she didn't push her or expect her to be something she wasn't. As prickly as she could be Ruby accepted her and had always wanted to be friends. It had nothing to do with her status or what her name could do for her, to Ruby she was just Weiss. Mind you, Ruby could and did tease her about being smart and rich, but it was never mean or hurtful. It was the kind of ribbing and banter that friends hit each other with all the time. She did the same thing when she called Ruby a dunce or a dork. It just felt...right and comfortable and it made her feel like she was finding a place to belong and people to belong there with. That was why it had hurt so much when she had been pulled back home. She had been taken from where she belonged and from the people she felt she belonged with.

She had been torn out of place but she was back now and she had no intention of being torn away again. Ruby meant too much to her now to ever want to be separated like that again. She would never be able to grow and become who she wanted to be or who she was even meant to be if she had to remain in Atlas. While she did love the land of her birth, her father had turned it and the family estate into her cage. It was a very pretty cage but it was still a cage nonetheless and she had no desire to return to it and continue to dance like a marionette on the end of the strings that he held in his iron grip.

They had finally reached a level of calm when a sharp, loud, very close crack of thunder shook the room, prompting a startled shriek out of them both and causing them to squeeze each other tighter. A flicker, then another and the power failed, leaving the room almost completely dark save for the nearly non existent light making it to the window through the heavy dark clouds and the continued flashing of lightning. They were both breathing a little heavier from being startled and it was as they were catching their breath that Weiss began to realize the exact nature of the position they were in.

Ruby was all but in her lap as they held one another, their breasts mashed together, the feel of it magnified and more noted now as they breathed heavier. She was suddenly aware of the heat of skin on skin and her nose was filled with the faint scent of roses and rainwater. Part of her wanted to push away, to put distance between them and get away from such intimate contact with another girl. With Ruby. But another part of her wanted to stay right where she was, to feel and sense more of this that was so much the opposite of the cold loneliness and isolation she knew all too well. That same part was even welcoming the fluttering of her nerves and the tingle that traced down her spine.

They separated slightly, that one part of her protesting. Blue eyes met silver, the tracks of tears leading from them mirroring her own. She smiled in wistful contentment.

"Weiss?" Ruby questioned quietly, her tone a little ragged from crying.

"I'm such an idiot," she whispered. "I had to be taken away from you before I could finally admit that you really are my best friend."

Ruby's eyes widened at the admission. It was something she had badly wanted to hear for months now and it made her very happy. Though she hadn't really been counting on a confession while they were naked and wrapped around each other like this, the feel and reality of which she was becoming very aware of right now herself. Yet, she didn't try to move or pull away.

Weiss leaned down until their heads lightly touched. "Do you have any idea how much I missed you and how much I worried about you?" she continued softly. "Sometimes I couldn't sleep and other times I didn't want to because I would have nightmares that you had never woken up and that you were gone from my life forever. You were the first real friend I had ever had and I couldn't admit it to you or even myself until I was taken away. I was always so lonely and it wasn't until I came to Beacon and met you and the others that I began to learn what it meant to not be that way anymore. But I couldn't let my guard down completely. I couldn't tell you because I was afraid that if I did it would turn out not to be real and I would be alone again."

"You won't be alone," Ruby whispered, her face turning red at their proximity but she still didn't move away. "We're friends and that's not going to change. I might be a dork and our interests aren't really the same and our upbringings are way different but we became friends anyway and not just partners."

Weiss smiled. "We are different and you really are a dork, but those are things that I actually like about you, the things that I missed about you. For weeks, every time I saw a glimpse of something red I would turn and expect and hope to see you there. When I _did_ see you today I almost didn't believe it but I didn't think twice about running after you."

"I'm glad," Ruby admitted. "I was so happy to see you. I had been worried about you too. I even tried calling you a few times even though I knew it wasn't going to go through, but I kept hoping. I really missed you too Weiss."

"Let me come with you then Ruby," she said hopefully. "Let me come with you and the others. I can't go back to my father and be his dutiful little puppet. I can't go back to that loneliness again. I can't live that way anymore, I just can't."

"Weiss..." Ruby didn't know what to say. There was such an undercurrent of pain in her words and it hurt to hear it. She had her own problems socially speaking, but she had never truly been lonely like Weiss had. She always had Yang and her father and Uncle Qrow, but it seemed that at home, no matter how many people were around her, Weiss was always truly alone.

"Please Ruby?" she pleaded. "I want to be doing something too about what happened and going after those responsible for it and I want to be doing it at the side of my best friend. I want to be where I belong."

"Dummy," Ruby chided lightly. "Of course you can come with me. I was going to ask you to anyway."

"Thank you," she breathed. Her relief was palpable in the way she all but sagged against her and tightened her embrace.

They remained like that as the storm outside continued to rage in its slowly abating fury. After a moment Weiss moved slightly bringing their faces closer. She scarcely knew what she was doing. The emotions of the last few minutes, the closeness and the heat of their bodies together, and the scent of rain and roses that still filled her senses was leaving her in a fog. There was the barest, brushing touch of their lips. A light, startled gasp from Ruby shocked her back into focus like a thunderclap and in a flash of lightning she saw the astonished widening of silver eyes.

Her own eyes went wide and panic seized her heart. _'Noooo...what did I just do?!'_ she screamed in her head. She didn't know why...how...damn it she had just ruined everything! She finally had found it within herself to admit that she did indeed consider Ruby to be her friend, her _best_ friend and someone she had missed terribly and was so happy to be reunited with...and then she does _that_ , and does it while barely realizing that she was doing anything!

She pulled away as if their proximity was suddenly burning her. "I..I...Ruby...I'm sorry!" She untangled herself from the covers and tried to flee. The moment her feet hit the floor she came to a dead stop with Ruby's hands clasped around her right wrist.

"Weiss!"

"I'm sorry!" she blurted again, tears now streaming from her eyes. "Just let me go. Please, I'm sorry Ruby!"

Ruby gave her a stern look. "I'm not letting you go!"

With a pull Ruby had her tumbling back onto the bed and as luck would have it she landed right on top of the little scythe wielder. Horrified, she tried to scramble away but Ruby wrapped her arms around her and held tight.

"Let me go Ruby...please!" she cried.

"No! I'm not letting go Weiss!" she persisted. "Please don't run away from me. It's okay, just don't go. You can't, I just got you back."

The younger girl's strength proved to be too much for her and she collapsed against her, her head going to Ruby's shoulder. "I'm sorry." She drew in a shuddering, sobbing breath. "I don't know why I did that. I don't know what I'm doing...I'm so messed up...I've _been_ so messed up...I don't...I'm so sorry..."

Ruby held her a little more gently but didn't let go. Their position was a little awkward and one of Weiss's knees was pressing against a _very_ intimate place but she didn't dare move for fear she would freak out or take it as a sign of rejection and try running again.

"It's okay Weiss," she whispered in her ear. "Go ahead and cry and let it out."

She did. For the next few minutes all that was heard was soft crying amid the lessening rumbles of thunder and the sound of the rain. Ruby's heart was breaking a little at the sound. Weiss had always seemed so self assured and in control and she couldn't have guessed that her upbringing had been so cold and lonely. Obviously that wasn't the case and she had been all alone and in pain for so long.

She couldn't identify with it, not really. Sure, it had hurt when she had lost her mother and sometimes it still did. But she hadn't been alone. She always had Yang and their Dad and Uncle Qrow and she loved them all dearly and she knew they loved her. It seemed that Weiss didn't have anything like that in her life. She didn't know anything about Weiss's mother, she had never said anything about her, and it was clear that her relationship with her father wasn't good and she didn't seem to have a really close relationship with her sister either. Maybe she was wrong, but it certainly was nothing like her relationship with Yang.

It saddened her a little to think about Yang. She had looked so broken and nothing like herself. She probably should have stayed but she didn't think she could have handled Yang keeping her at a distance. In a way she felt like she had run away when her big sister needed her. Yang had _always_ been there for her, but it seemed like the best she could do now was try to hunt down the people responsible for everything that had happened. At least this trip had brought her back together with Weiss.

"Why aren't you mad at me Ruby?" Weiss asked with a sniffle.

"Why would I be mad?" she asked.

"Because I...I..."

"Kissed me?" Ruby finished helpfully. Weiss flinched and she had to bite her lip for a moment since that flinch had caused a certain knee to rub against a certain place.

"Yeah...that," she answered, obviously ashamed.

"It just surprised me," Ruby said. "It didn't gross me out or anything. It kind of tickled actually."

Weiss sat up a little and looked at her, her long white hair spilling down over her shoulders, her damp blue eyes reflecting in a flash of lightning. She couldn't help but stare for a moment. Weiss shifted a little and luckily she was able to keep a straight face as that knee rubbed her again before Weiss pulled it back at bit and broke contact.

"Ruby, are you...?" she couldn't finish that question.

"Huh?" Ruby asked, looking puzzled. After a moment the light went on and her eyes widened. "Oh! Uh, I don't think so...I guess...I don't know? I've...never really thought much about that. About boys...or girls. Or...any of that kind of stuff really. Um...are you...you know?"

She sighed. "Honestly, I don't know anymore. About anything. I don't know who I am or what I want. I was hoping to find that out by going to Beacon. I wanted to discover myself, who I really was away from Atlas and my father. I only got to take one tiny little step on that journey before the attack happened and he dragged me back home and now I think I'm a worse mess than I ever was before."

Ruby sat up. "Then we can both be a mess together, that's better than being a mess all alone."

Weiss stared at her for a moment. "Only you could come up with logic like that."

She shrugged. "If we're together we can help each other not be a mess." She smiled a little. "We can talk to each other and not hold so much stuff in. Maybe things won't hurt so much then."

"You're right," she agreed with a sigh. "We've both had enough of that I think."

"Heh...we've had quiet a reunion huh?" Ruby grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Hmm," Weiss smirked. "Somehow I didn't picture getting soaked to the skin, ending up naked...or kissing you. Again, I'm sorry about that."

"Did..." Ruby began nervously. "Did you want to do it again?"

"W-what!?" she exclaimed, wide eyed and incredulous.

Ruby suddenly looked very unsure of herself. "W-well...there must have been some reason why...even if you don't know what it is. It took me by surprise...but I didn't really mind, and our lips barely touched...and I'm, kind of curious now. And...um, we don't really know if we, you know, like that...kind of stuff..." Her shoulder's sagged and her head dropped. "And I'm rambling and sounding really stupid so I'll just stop talking now."

Why _had_ she kissed Ruby? Was she really just so messed up, so emotional, and so out of sorts that she just fell into events as they happened and reacted without thinking? Or, deep inside her somewhere did she have some level of attraction to Ruby? She could admit that Ruby was cute and did have an undeniable dorky and adorable quality about her, but she had never had any conscious notion of attraction to her or any other female for that matter. Was it just something about Ruby alone that had made her do what she did, and if so, what was it?

Emotionally speaking, she was pretty much tapped out at this point and there was not a clearer indication of how it was affecting her faculties than the fact that she thought Ruby was actually making some sort of sense with her suggestion. She didn't even seem to be able to formulate an argument against it and indeed had to admit to herself that there was a certain level of curiosity there now for her too.

She sighed heavily. "In some odd way that only you can, you're making sense I guess. Why not? I don't think either one of us could get anymore emotional than we already have been."

"So um...how do we want to...?" Ruby sort of asked, obviously very nervous.

"I guess just...do it? Weiss suggested, equally as wracked.

The next minute or two was spent in an awkward dance of almost doing it while trying not to be the one to actually initiate it. They leaned toward each other a number of times, shifted positions so they didn't feel so uncomfortable and off balance, and tried to meet in the middle somewhere without getting too close and being awkwardly mashed together like they were the first time, but never came close enough to succeed. They finally wound up sitting back over their knees, facing one another but unable to make eye contact. Their faces were a vibrant shade of red.

"I guess...this really isn't something we can do from distance is it?" Ruby said softly.

"No, I guess it isn't," Weiss responded in kind.

After a moment, first Weiss, then Ruby, rose up onto their knees and shuffled toward one another. Hitting a soft spot over a couple of worn springs in the mattress caused them to more or less tumble the last few inches into one another and by the time they had steadied themselves from falling over, they were pretty well in touch at every square inch of skin from their thighs to their breasts. Not as tightly as earlier, but there was more overall contact and the effect was magnified. Their hands had landed on each others shoulders or upper arms for support and their faces were scant inches apart. Their eyes were locked together and they could feel the warmth of each other's breath against their skin. Finally, they slowly moved into the kiss...only to be too close and tilt their heads wrong, knocking heads and bumping noses, causing them to separate again.

"Sorry!" Ruby apologized, blaming herself. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Neither do I," Weiss admitted. "...Um...I'll tilt to my left, you tilt to your left maybe?"

"O-okay," Ruby agreed.

It took a moment to work up the courage again but this time they got it right, although, they were both so tense that their lips were far too rigid and tightly drawn. They knew that wasn't close to being right and were both disappointed with how it felt.

"I-I think we're way too tense," Weiss said.

"Y-yeah," Ruby agreed. "But I don't think I can relax."

They both realized that the way they were pressed against one another wasn't helping, but neither wanted to be the one to pull away and they both feared that if they did they would never do this and get it out of the way. It was now becoming less of a _'should we do this to see what happens?'_ kind of thing, to one of _'we are going to do this even if it kills us'_.

"Maybe a couple of deep breaths," Weiss suggested. While that did help, it served as a further reminder of just how close together they were as their chests expanded and contracted against one another with greater emphasis.

"M-maybe if we think about what a relief it was to see each other again, like when we met on the street?" Ruby suggested.

"That...that might work," Weiss agreed, already recalling the great happiness that she had felt when she had caught up to her.

They both smiled a little and after a moment they tried again. Not nearly so stiff this time but still just a little too strained.

"That...was kind of nice," Weiss said.

"Yeah," Ruby breathed.

A brief glance at each other's eyes and their lips met again, softer, more relaxed this time and lasting long than a quick peck. The look on their faces told one another that it still didn't seem like enough to answer their questions though.

Once again, with the increasing feeling of heat rising around them and their lips began to move against one another a little, but somehow in their minds it still wasn't quite right and the answer wasn't there yet.

Again, with nearly all of the tension now leaving and it began to feel really nice. One more time now without a lot of conscious thought behind it and an increasing sense of urgency seemed to make itself known to them, making them press together even more and their grip on one another tighten as they continued. Suddenly as if coming to the same realization at the same moment, wide eyed they broke apart and gained a little distance as they calmed down and regained their breathing.

"Wow," Ruby said softly, her fingers brushing her lips.

"That...was getting a little intense," Weiss breathed.

"Yeah." Ruby paused. "So...did you like it?" she asked shyly.

"I..." Weiss's eyes widened in realization of her answer. "I did. Did you?" Was that a hopeful tone she detected within her own voice?

"Y-yeah," Ruby answered.

They remained quiet for a while, concentrating on their own thoughts of what this meant, which seemed to take on an even greater emphasis now after that last try. Now and then one would steal a glance at the other, but it didn't seem like either of them was ready to speak just yet. The thoughts and questions speeding around inside their heads were moving at a pace that made them a jumbled and incomprehensible mess that they couldn't quite catch up to and they were starting to have the effect of a snowball rolling down hill, getting bigger and faster as it went.

"Gah!" Ruby grunted as she flopped over onto her back. "Too much thinking. My brain is going to explode."

Weiss agreed as she slumped back and leaned against the wall. She was about to chastise Ruby for the view she was getting of her in her _very_ unladylike sprawl, when she realized that her own posture wasn't much better. The two of them looked like they were posing for a dirty magazine. However she didn't move or say anything about it. Frankly, she was too emotionally spent at the moment to even care about changing her position or saying anything to Ruby about hers. At least, not until Ruby raised her head to look at her and say something, had her face turn red at the view, then realized that she was putting on the exact same show herself. Quickly they rearranged themselves to be a little less revealing. At least, as much as one could when already nude. They were both blushing so hard the room nearly took on a red glow.

" _You_ are a very bad influence Ruby Rose!" Weiss cracked. She said it almost without realising it, but maybe a wisecrack was exactly what the situation needed to change the mood.

"Huwah?! Ruby exclaimed, eyes going wide and mouth dropping open. "But I...you...I mean..."

Weiss began to giggle. She couldn't help it. The look of innocence and red faced bewilderment on Ruby's face was priceless. The indignant, scowling, hands on hips look she got next as Ruby rose up onto her knees was even better and made her laugh harder.

"Stop laughing at me!" Ruby insisted, unable to keep the smile from starting to take over her face. She had never seen Weiss laugh like that, she was always so under control, except for when she got mad. It was really nice to see her laugh like this. Grinning evilly she grabbed the pillow and walloped her with it. Weiss gave a little shriek and toppled over, laughing even harder. Ruby continued the soft and fluffy beating until they were both laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes.

Laying side by side it took them several minutes to catch their breath. They felt a lot better, the confused and angst laden clutter, if not largely gone from their minds, was pushed into the background for now. The tears from earlier had purged a lot of pent up stress from them, allowing them to get a little relief from what they had been through over the last few weeks. The laughter had gotten them through the mind clogging confusion and anxiety that had gripped them since the first brush of their lips. They both felt calmer and a little more clear headed now.

Weiss turned her head towards Ruby. "So I guess the question of what our kissing meant isn't something we're going to figure out right away is it?"

Ruby looked back at her. "I guess not. But...I guess it isn't something we really need to be in a hurry about anyway is it?"

"Probably not," Weiss agreed. "I mean, we've really only known each other for a semester or so anyway. That isn't that long. And, I did waste some of that time by not admitting that I did see you as my friend."

"I think I kind of knew, well I hoped at least," Ruby said. "We didn't get off to a great start and I really did want to be friends."

"I'm still rather ashamed of how I acted at first," Weiss admitted. "I'm glad that I started to change and find my own way to see and do things rather than remaining stuck in the indoctrinated behaviour that I was brought up with. I think the best thing to happen to me was becoming friends with you."

"Of course it was," Ruby crowed with mock smugness. "And now that we're together again we can get to know each other even better and maybe we can figure out what today means."

"We've got plenty of time so we don't need to rush or force it," Weiss said. "We'll figure it out."

"And we can hunt for the bad guys now too," Ruby smiled. "It'll be nice to have my partner beside me again."

Weiss frowned. "I'll have to find another weapon to use."

"Huh? Why?"

"I brought Myrtenaster with me on this trip," she said. "I refused to leave it behind but I couldn't take it to the meetings with me. It's in my hotel room but I can't very well go back for it. They'd never let me back out again."

Ruby grinned. "If Haven will let us use their shop, I bet we could build you a new one. It would be easier with the blueprints for it, but I bet I could do it without them."

"I had the plans on my scroll," Weiss said sadly. "But it was in my briefcase, which I dropped at the trade building when I took off to catch you."

"Don't worry, we'll figure something out," Ruby assured her.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Weiss mused. "You did build Crescent Rose yourself after all."

With a hum and a flicker the power came back on. "Yay!" Ruby cheered. "Now we won't have to eat dinner cold."

"You have food here?" Weiss asked.

"Sure," Ruby chirped as she hopped off the bed and scurried to the small table by the door where she had left the shopping bag she had been carrying earlier. "I found a place that sells good packaged meals for a really good price. I haven't had a lot to do here while I was waiting for the others so I spent a lot of time walking around the area. One of these was going to be breakfast tomorrow but we can always get something on the way or at Haven."

"At least you haven't been eating nothing but cookies," Weiss jabbed.

"Heh, as much as I'd like to I know I can't do that," Ruby said. "But I do have some for dessert."

"That figures," Weiss smiled.

Ruby unwrapped the meals and heated them one at a time, the microwave was too small to fit them both at once. After getting a couple of bottles of water out of the mini fridge and the bag of cookies from her backpack, they settled in to eat. During the meal and afterward, they talked about what they had done in each other's absence both during the attack on Beacon and since. Weiss was not pleased that Ruby had gone lone wolf, using her rocket locker to get to Ironwood's ship and ending up fighting both Neo and Torchwick. She gave her a bop on the head to illustrate her displeasure at her reckless actions. Actions that could have seen Ruby get killed if a Grimm hadn't picked an opportune moment to eat the infuriating thief.

Ruby was upset that she missed Velvet's fight against the Paladin's using hard light copies of the weapons she had taken pictures of. At least now she understood why the bunny girl's pictures looked the way they did. She was equally upset at missing Weiss's summoning Semblance. She didn't even know she could do something like that. To think that she missed all that awesome stuff!

They talked until the approach of sleep could no longer be held at bay and happily learned a little more about each other. The bed wasn't big but there was room for both of them and there was only one pillow which was just big enough to try and share. After the emotional rollercoaster they had been through it didn't take long for them to fall asleep. It would turn out to be one of the better night's sleep either of them had enjoyed in weeks.

* * *

Morning came for them a little short of nine, with Weiss slowly waking first and finding that she had become somewhat of a hugging pillow for Ruby. The little reaper's head was on her shoulder, one arm thrown across her stomach, and one leg tangled up with hers. Her first instinct was to push her off and wake her but she stopped herself. It wasn't really such a big deal was it? No one else was here unlike in their old dorm room, and it was kind of inevitable that they might end up like this since they were sharing a bed when they were both used to having one to themselves. And to be truthful it was actually kind of comfortable, which added more ammo to the questions of the day before.

"Ruby," she called softly, getting no response. "Ruby," she called again, getting the same response. She smiled evilly.

Reaching over with her left hand she very gently brushed her finger across the lobe of the sleeping girl's right ear a couple of times, tickling it. She flinched, so she did it again, getting a murmur from the sleepyhead. A third time and Ruby brought her hand up and brushed at her ear. When her hand dropped back over her stomach she did it again.

"Ruby, if you don't wake up I am giving away all of your cookies."

"Noooooo!" the girl wailed, head shooting up off her shoulder. She blinked owlishly at Weiss and rubbed her ear. "To think, I shared my cookies with such a meanie." She stuck her tongue out at her for emphasis.

"So when did you decide to use me for a hugging pillow?" she asked with a smirk.

"Heh...sorry about that." She finished untangling herself from her partner, sat up and yawned. "I guess we should get ready and go."

"I just hope we don't run into anyone who's looking for me," Weiss said as she got up.

"We can lose them using my speed," Ruby assured her as she headed to the bathroom to get her clothes. "I won't let them take you back."

They went about getting ready, Weiss was doing her best to make herself presentable without having any of her toiletries on hand since they were back at the hotel with the rest of her things. What she did have though was a billfold full of cash in her jacket. She had made sure to withdraw the maximum amount allowed off of her company card so that she could have some money on her in case she happened to get cut off again for some reason. Maybe she had just been subconsciously hoping for a chance to bolt and wanted to be somewhat prepared. Whatever the reason at least she could buy what she needed without being tracked by her card usage, and still have plenty on hand to help pay their way along with whatever cash they had as a group. Hopefully she could find some different clothes too, the suit she was wearing wasn't ideal fighting wear, not that she had a weapon to fight with at the moment anyway.

She was nervous too. She knew people from the delegation would be looking for her and likely would have enlisted whatever help they could. She didn't want to go back, she _couldn't_ go back. If she did she feared that she would never have the resolve to try and defy her father again. She also didn't want Ruby to get caught up in the mess if they were found. If it was by members of the security detail her father sent with the delegation, she knew they wouldn't care what they had to do to separate them and get her back. They were remorseless when it came to doing their job.

Just as they finished dressing they heard a muffled thump outside the door. Ruby went to the window and took a peek between the drapes but couldn't see a sign of anyone around. They shared a glance as Ruby moved to the door and listened, then looked through the peep hole. She motioned for Weiss to step into the bathroom where she would be unseen and opened the door as far as it would travel with the security chain still in place. Again, she couldn't see or hear anyone around. Looking down she saw what must have produced the thump, a plain dark blue duffle bag sitting directly in front of the door.

She closed the door long enough to unhook the chain before quickly reopening it, grabbing the bag by its long shoulder strap and dragging it in, then closing and relocking it. They both spent a moment staring at the bag.

"I guess we might as well open it," Ruby said. She unzipped the bag and spread it open.

"This is all of my stuff from my hotel room!" Weiss exclaimed. Her Huntress uniform and other items of clothing, her toiletries, and most importantly Myrtenaster and the box of spare dust vials she had packed. Even her scroll and the notebooks she had left behind were there. The only thing that wasn't was the slim briefcase she had been carrying earlier and the hard sided luggage case she had originally packed everything in.

"There are a couple of notes here too," Ruby said, handing one to Weiss. They were addressed individually to them both in neat, elegant handwriting.

"This is Winter's handwriting," Weiss told her. She eagerly opened hers and read it aloud. "I see that you have finally decided to choose which path you wish to take. Good for you. I thought you might wish to have your things before you embark on that journey. Stay well, stay strong, and discover who you are. Anyone looking for you has been directed elsewhere in their search." Weiss wore an astonished look. "She's covering for us."

"What does she mean by choosing the path you wished to take?" Ruby asked.

"When we visited during the Vytal Festival, she told me that I had two choices before me," she began. "I could call my father, beg for his money back and explain to him again why I wanted to study at Beacon and not in Atlas, or I could continue to explore Remnant and learn more about it and about myself."

Ruby smiled. "So since you're here with me that means you obviously chose the second one." She unfolded her note and read it. "Ruby Rose, once again I wish to express my gratitude to you for befriending my sister. I would consider it a personal favour if you would do your utmost to watch out for her like any good partner and friend should. Be well and safe journey." She looked at Weiss and smiled. "As if I would do anything else."

"That works both ways you know," she responded in mock haughtiness. "Someone has to keep you from going and doing crazy things." She removed her Huntress uniform from the bag and went toward the bathroom. Stopping halfway there she came back and grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste. At least now she wouldn't have to stop and reacquire them along the way and she could get rid of the nasty taste of morning breath.

Fifteen minutes later she returned, adjusting her skirt and jacket. "Much better," she said. She placed her business suit in the bag then removed Myrtenaster and her scroll before closing it back up. "At least now I won't have to find another weapon."

"I was kind of looking forward to building you one if we needed to," Ruby admitted. "Already had some ideas in my head for it."

Weiss smirked. "You're such a geek when it comes to weapons."

"How can I not be when they're so awesome!" she exclaimed.

She just shook her head as she sheathed Myrtenaster at her side. She picked up the duffle and adjusted the long strap before slipping it over her shoulder. Ruby closed up her backpack and put it on, then slung Crescent Rose in its place at her back.

"Ready to go partner?" Ruby asked, smiling.

"Ready," Weiss confirmed, though she was a little nervous.

Ruby unlocked the door. "I just have to check out with the manager and then we're off." She opened the door and took a look around. It was still all clear. She turned and looked back at Weiss for a moment.

"What?" Weiss asked.

Ruby walked up to her and promptly planted a kiss on her cheek before hopping back to the door. "Hah! You should see how red your face is!"

"Mine!" she exclaimed as Ruby bolted out the door. "What about yours you dolt!" She closed the door and took off after the giggling reaper.

What neither of them saw was the figure in white standing on the roof of the motel above the room they had just left and who continued to watch them until they disappeared from her sight well down the street. Winter Schnee was proud that her little sister was finally ready to break the chains her father had tried to hold her with and that she had someone she trusted to watch her back, and just as importantly, to be her friend and chase away the loneliness she had known for far too much of her young life.

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Hope you enjoyed this. Please review, and if you would be so kind please check out my other stories.


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